Oh, are you confused? Andrew can predict exactly when things will arrive and stuff like that. So when we play catch, Andrew never misses. I can heal. Like, show me a wound or paper cut, and I’ll put my hand on it, and three seconds (yes, exactly three seconds) later, it’ll look like nothing was there. But doing this takes energy. The bigger the wound or the farther away the object is that Andrew is predicting when it will land, the more energy it takes.

Derek looked at us. “I guess we have to seal the hole.”

Lani interrupted. “Can I come too?”

Derek, Andrew, and I all stared at her.

“What?” she asked defensively. “I did just pass my Assessment, and so now I can do whatever I want and make my own decisions!”

I sighed. “Fine, you can come.”

Andrew and Derek stared at me like I was crazy.

“Lani, you can’t come. It’s too dangerous.” said Andrew.

Crap. He shouldn’t have said that.

Lani took a deep breath. “I’M COMING WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, ANDREW JOSEPH HOSTE! AND THAT’S FINAL!” she screamed.

Andrew was always the only one who never had to cover his ears when she shouted. In fact, he yelled louder than her. “NO YOU’RE NOT!”

I interfered before Lani shouted at him again. “Come on, just let her try.” I said.

Andrew glared at me. Derek looked like all this amused him. “It’s too dangerous for a novice like Lani though…” Andrew protested weakly. Then he stiffened. “They’re here!”

I whirled around just in time to see the first of many demons crest the hill behind us. I won’t even describe the expression on his ugly face – it really was disgusting, not to mention the actual demon himself.

While we were arguing, reinforcements had arrived. The first few people charged ahead to attack the demons, while we ran off, me dragging Lani with us.

Andrew and Derek were faster and Lani and me, so they reached the exit of Tian before we did.

“You ready?” asked Derek. Lani and I both nodded, and Andrew replied, “Yes.”

Without another word we marched through the grand, spiraling arch. Suddenly, a question popped into my mind.

“How did the demons get into Tian from the hill? I thought the only entrance and exit was right here!”

Andrew looked confused, but Derek knew what I was talking about. His face paled. “It means more holes have opened up.”

I already felt like the world was on my shoulders. Now it felt like someone dropped another ten tons of world on me.

Before long, we arrived at Zhong. I could see the whole place starting to disintegrate, and if we didn’t hurry, the entire place would dissolve in a week. Just then, Lani tripped.

“Ow!” she exclaimed, as I bent over to see what she tripped on. It was a small hole, but it showed a tiny bit of Di. I saw something extremely unpleasant. Tens of thousands of demons were rushing by, underneath us, trying to get to that huge hole that opened up. All of them were rushing right, so I told Derek and Andrew that we should head that way.

“Hey Rina, before we go on, can you take a look at this?” Lani asked me, pointing to her knee.

“Oh yeah, sorry.” I said.

Lani’s knee wasn’t as bad as it looked. I brushed my black hair out of my face and placed one hand on the wound. In three seconds, it was healed, but I felt a little more tired.

Lani smiled at me. “Thanks a lot, Rina!”

We started walking toward the hole. Before long though, the ground was starting to have holes every ten feet. Most were small, but sometimes I saw a slightly bigger one.

After several hours, I was beginning to think that this was too easy. I mean, we’ve done nothing but walk for hours, and nothing happens?

…crap. I shouldn’t have thought that, because, coincidentally, my necklace with a sapphire pendant that matches my eyes and can sense demonic activity begins to pulse.